Priests, ministers, rabbis and other religious leaders go online to connect with faithful, but miss the personal touch

Sister Nadia Raphael and the Rev. Jesus Dominguez, of St. Joseph Catholic Church in Elgin, set out wood crosses and missals for the public to take for Palm Sunday and Holy week services. (Gloria Casas / The Courier-News)

St. Joseph Catholic Church’s bells can be heard throughout Elgin’s downtown announcing its early morning mass. Maria Lopez used to attend it daily until the coronavirus pandemic closed local churches three weeks ago.

“It’s very sad because I like to be there in person,” said Lopez, who’s at home with her children under the governor’s “shelter in place” order, which essentially shut down all but essential services to slow the spread of the virus.

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A St. Joseph parishioner for 40 years, Lopez watches the Rev. Jesus Dominguez’s do a live stream of the mass from her church on Facebook.

“You almost want to cry. It’s not the same to watch it on the screen,” she said. “It’s very hard, but they are doing what they can.”

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It’s an unprecedented situation affecting almost every facet of life, and religious leaders are grappling with how they can keep their members in touch with their faiths at a time when the doors of churches, synagogues, mosques and other places of worship are closed through April 30.

Almost every faith has turned to online streaming, website videos and Facebook posts that can be viewed by computer or phone.

The Rev. Jesus Dominguez has been distributing wood crosses to St. Joseph Catholic Church parishioners and asking them to display them decorated in their windows during the Easter holiday. It's away for people to connect with each other when no one will be attending in-person masses because of the coronavirus outbreak, he said. (Gloria Casas / The Courier-News)

In addition to the daily mass and a one-hour prayer session he holds once a week, Dominguez has started doing processions around town on Thursdays, blessing people with a monstrance that contains a consecrated host.

“People can’t come to see Jesus so it’s a good opportunity for Jesus to see them, bless them and bless their home,” Dominguez said.

He maintains social distance and makes no stops, he said. People wave from their homes and other kneel outside, he said.

“It’s a good opportunity for people to raise their voice from their homes to ask for the end of this pandemic,” Dominguez said.

One of the places he’s visited is the old Sherman Hospital “to bless the building and the people who will be taking care of the ill and the sick” when the building is used for overflow patients from area hospitals, Dominguez said. Last week, he stopped at the Elgin Police Department.

The shutdown is occurring during some of the holiest days on the Christian and Jewish calendars. Churches and synagogues are making unique plans to commemorate Holy Week, Easter and Passover.

On Friday, Dominguez gave away wood crosses, made and donated by parishioner Willis Weiler. He encouraged people to decorate them and place them in their window on Sunday to create a sense of belonging.

Congregation Kneseth Israel has been holding virtual Shabbat on Friday nights, Rabbi Margaret Frisch Klein said, and she’ll be doing Taste of Shabbat on her own Facebook page at 5 p.m. April 10 and Havdalah, the end of Shabbat, at 8 p.m. April 16.

While it’s been difficult to move everything online, Klein said, it’s also had an unexpected bonus of attracting "some potential members, some longtime members who can’t come to services because of health issues and some that have moved away.”

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They’ve been using Zoom to do a Sunday School assembly as well, she said.

“An advantage to that kind of platform — Zoom, WebEx, Google Hangouts — is the two-way communication. If it were just me streaming, it would be flat. Right now, people really need the connection and the communication.”

The Rev. Jesus Dominguez, a priest at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Elgin, has been trying different things to connect with his parishioners at a time when his church and every other house of worship is closed due to the coronavirus pandemic. (Gloria Casas / The Courier-News)

This year, Passover starts at sundown Wednesday, April 8, and ends at nightfall on Thursday, April 16. It’s one of the most sacred holidays on the Hebrew calendar, commemorating the exodus of the ancient Israelites from Egypt after they were freed from slavery. The synagogue is delivering Passover supplies to those who are in assisted living places or can’t leave their homes, Klein said.

While they typically would hold a Community Seder on the second night of Passover for all those members who are alone or unable to hold one themselves, this year they’ll be doing a "Zoom Community Seder, which works for those with technology, and some other special events, including something of the memorial prayers, which are said on the last day of Passover,” she said.

“I’ve been reading Jewish children’s books out loud on Facebook. One called ‘Nachshon’ (is about a boy) who was afraid to swim, and one called ‘All of a Kind Family,’ which actually has a chapter about a family that is quarantined for Passover,” she said.

For Klein, the biggest challenge has been social distancing, which prevents her from physically comforting people.

"No longer can we have people surrounding someone who is dying. What does that mean or even look like?” she said. “How do you do a burial with only 10 people, if that, and no hugs. I am not a huggy person. I didn’t grow up that way. But I miss them.”

And she’s been making a lot phone calls and “doing a lot of listening,” she said.

People are “worried about dying alone,” Klein said. "People worry about how hospitals are making choices about who gets ventilators or whether they will do CPR. They wonder how safe is it to go to the grocery store? Should I cancel my elective surgery? Do I need to wear a mask?

“People are scared ... and some of that is appropriate. Others are angry. It’s OK to feel those feelings.

“I like the quote that was found on a wall in Cologne, Germany, during World War II: ‘I believe in the sun even when it’s not shining. I believe in love even when I don’t feel it. I believe in God even when He is silent.’”